the Order of the Sapparite Wolf
by Kuroko8
Summary: In the war-torn world of Azeroth, the Order of the Sappharite Wolf exists as a rescue squad. With members among both the Alliance and Horde, they must keep their existence a secret or risk being branded as traitors. However when a routine rescue mission uncovers a sinister plot that threatens all of Azeroth, their resolve is tested as they race to thwart their new adversaries.
1. Prologue

The events in this series take place between the end of World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion and the Mist of Pandaria's Escalation patch. It leads in to an ongoing role-playing scenario (which will take advantage of WoW's new cross-server options); comments and questions welcomed.

The Order of the Sappharite Wolf

Prologue

Bernhart sighed, he didn't like this, not at all… here he was, a former guard of Stormwind, here in Tristfal… He knew he wouldn't last long if he was discovered. Of course Bernhart held no allegiance to Stormwind anymore, or the Alliance. It was true he still operated out of the city, when he could, but he was done with the menial pay he worked for under that fool, King Varian Wrynn. These days Bernhart, and his small organization, worked as mercenaries, hired thugs for whoever had the most gold to pay them, be they allied with the Alliance or the Horde, which was why he was here.

Through the mist in the clearing up ahead he saw the man who had most recently hired him, an undead shadow priest named Vorrik, though Bernhart knew that was not his true name. He was wearing long black and purple robes and carrying a gnarled staff. His ghostly pale face partially covered by black stringy hair. His glowing yellow eyes peered out from underneath a dark purple hood. Indeed he was a shady figure… but such was the case with most undead.

Vorrik had hired Bernhart and his men to retrieve a certain set of items, a job that had cost the lives of several of his men, but Bernhart didn't care, it was the gold that was important… still, he didn't trust this man, "Undead, of course, can never be trusted." He thought to himself. He smiled to himself; thank goodness he had taken precautions.

The shadow priest grinned as he saw Bernhart enter the clearing, "Ah good, you're here. And alone, I see."

"As we agreed." Bernhart smiled as he approached the undead, carrying with him a small chest.

"And you left your horse at the check point as well, did you?" the Shadow Priest asked. Bernhart nodded. "Good, that shows trust, I like that. An act like that earns you extra, my good man." The undead said holding up a large bag, "Now if you would be so kind as to hand me over the items".

Bernhart handed over the chest while simultaneously taking the bag from the undead's bony hand, he looked inside and indeed the undead was generous, this was nearly twice the amount that had been agreed upon.

The shadow Priest opened the chest and took out a small stone cylinder, "Ah, the runestones of Katec, very, very good, my friend. Should I be in need of your services again, my good man, you can be sure I shall contact you… you've done an excellent job."

"Thank you, sir." Bernhart smiled, though he began to look around nervously.

The undead frowned, "What's wrong, you seem troubled?"

"Oh no, I..." Bernhart stammered.

"Could it be you were waiting for the twelve men you brought with you to flank and kill me? I believe you had seven of them positioned over there," the undead pointed, "and the other five that were supposed to attack me from behind. Bernhart stepped back. The shadow priest smiled and continued, "Yes, well, unfortunately my friend, I'm afraid they are all dead. And as for your marksman on the cliff up there? Positioned to shoot me if your men failed?" the shadow priest pointed above them, "He's quite dead too."

Bernhart drew his sword, but even as the weapon left it's sheathe the undead shadow priest used his staff to parry the weapon away from him. The sword landed in the shadow priest hands, throughout the entire maneuver the shadow priest never dropped the chest he was holding. As the undead smiled sinisterly at him, Bernhart tried to think fast, taking another step back and reached into his vest.

"The smoke bomb," the shadow priest started speaking again, "it will do you no good. True, it may distract me momentarily… long enough for you to get a short distance away, but even if you could manage to get to the mage you hired, the one you didn't even tell your men about. The one waiting in the woods to teleport you to safety should things go awry?" the Shadow Priest shook his head, "My, my, I'm afraid he is dead too." Bernhart began to sweat. How had he known?!

The Shadow priest closed the chest and turned to leave. "Well, it doesn't matter, our business is concluded. I have no need to dirty my hands further and kill you too, even after your attempted treachery."

"You… you're letting me live?"

"Why not?" the shadow priest said to him as he turned back, "I have what I wanted. I don't see why I should trouble myself with you anymore." The undead turned away again and began to walk off. Bernhart exhaled a sigh of relief. Still he knew better than to let his guard down. The undead were not the most genuine race in Azeroth, and Tristfal was full of undead, not just this Shadow Priest.

"Oh," the Shadow priest stopped and turned one more time, "and just so you know, these runestones?" he held up the small chest, "I'm well aware they are fakes. I know you kept the real ones in a safety deposit box in Stormwind, and had these forgeries crafted to deliver to me instead." Bernhart began to panic. "Don't you worry," the Shadow priest continued, "I've already had an associate retrieve the real ones, though I must admit these are very, very convincing decoys."

Bernhart turned to run. As he did, an undead rogue unstealthed behind him, holding two large daggers with jagged blades across his throat. "How…how did you know?" Bernhart stammered.

"Oh it is my job to know," the undead grinned, "It is quite the ability, and it is both my gift and my curse… I'd say more, but it would be perfectly useless to waste an explanation on a dead man." With that the rogue drew her blades across Bernhart's throat, and his bloody, headless corpse fell to the earth.

"My, my, my…" the Shadow priest said as he approached, picking up the bag of gold, "It is so hard to find good help these days, isn't it?" he turned to the rogue, "Except for you my dear. You did perfectly, Lydia, one could not ask for a better assistant." The undead rogue looked at him, her eyes filled with anger and distain, but also sorrow and fear. She hated this man, but she could not disobey him, no matter how much she wanted to. She knew he enjoyed the kind of power he had over her… and knowing that made her hate the Shadow Priest even more.

"It's time for us to be off." the shadow priest said, "While Tristfal is one o the few places we can wander without drawing much suspicion, It would still be as much of a problem if the Horde were to catch wind of our plans as it would the Alliance."

The rogue put her blades away and faced her master, "My lord Destegorne?" She began.

"Yes?"

"Is it really wise to say such things? Who knows what ears are nearby to hear your words? There may be Forsaken about, there could even be Alliance spies in the area that followed…"

"My dear, you should know better by now." Destegorne grinned, "If there were to be anyone tonight that would be even remotely in earshot, of course I would have had them killed before we even arrived." Shadow Priest Destegorne laughed. He pulled out a bottle of green liquid and poured it over Bernhart's corpse. As soon as the body came in contact with the liquid it began to dissolve into the earth beneath it. "Now Lydia," Destegorne said as he handed her the chest, "We should depart."

"You still want us to take these with you? I thought you said they were fakes?"

"Yes, ingenious fakes." Destegorne grinned, "We shall still have use of them soon enough." With that the two undead figures left the clearing and disappeared into the mists rolling in from off the sea.


	2. Chapter 1: the Order

The Order of the Sappharite Wolf

Chapter one: The Order

Thodrinn Rustbeard adjusted his spectacles as he dismounted from his riding goat. The four dwarves riding with him followed him as he began walking towards the small mining encampment at the base of the mountain. Thodrinn was a balding red-haired dwarf who admittedly looked older than he was… whether that had come from his time as a warrior or the stress from bringing his family's mining company back from the brink he couldn't be certain. His days as a warrior were now far behind him and his mining business was now more lucrative than ever… but there were still setbacks. Thodrinn had come here to the Hinterlands in an attempt to step up production in the largest mithril mine of the Rustbreard mining operation. The mine was one of the bigger independent suppliers of mithril to Ironforge, something Thodrinn was very proud of… but lately the output of the mine was slowing down. His brother, Barwinn, reported that the workers were in desperate need of motivation… So Thodrinn was here to bring that motivation and get his mine at a descent output again.

Two dwarves approached from the camp to help carry his belongings back to camp. Thodrinn didn't even crack a smile as he nodded slightly in greeting. He sauntered into the camp and looked around, his eyes finally settling on a heavyset Red-haired dwarf with a long thick mustache, sorting through a pile of reports. Thodrinn sighed and walked up to him, "So, Barwinn… havin' a wee bit o' trouble with the help are ye?"

"Brother?" The heavyset dwarf stood at attention, "Nae, nae… I can handle 'em fine, specially wit' the help ye sent me last month… But the slaves are just…"

"SILENCE FOOL!" Thodrinn snapped, he stopped and looked around nervously. "Ye need ta be careful with yuir words, brother… I donnae want word getting back ta Ironforge about our… labor situation".

"Aye… um… at any rate… They just donnae have the stamina ta keep goin' as long as we need 'em te…. Which brings me te question again, why is it ye brought in ki…."

"They were brought in cause nobody'll miss 'em." Thodrinn nodded to one of the dwarves bringing in his luggage. The Dwarf brought over a medium sized chest and set it down in front of the two brothers. Thodrinn opened the lid. Inside the chest were several ebon colored shackles, a red engraving ran round the center of each cuff and seem to give off a strange glow. "The same man who helped supply our workforce sold me this to boost their productivity. They're magically treated ta keep them workin' past exhaustion an' will knock 'em flat if they try to fight back". Throdinn shut the chest and nodded at his brother. "Ye know what ta do Barwinn, I'm gonnae get meself settled while you go 'motivate' the workers".

Moments later Barwinn walked into the mine with another dwarf behind him carrying the chest. He approached a pair of guards near the back of the mine. He nodded at one who nodded in turn, and pulled on a lever hidden behind a stalagmite. A large stone behind the guard moved revealing a hidden entrance to the real mine. Barwinn stepped through the entryway an looked around at all the children working in the mine… all of them orphans, collected from Stormwind, Westfall and Redridge… humans, draenai, even elvish children… and some young orcs and trolls that were supplied by slavers from Kalimdor. "Gather around kiddies!" Barwinn sneered, "Uncle Barwinn has a set o' bracelets fer each o' ye to try on!"

"They have been covering their tracks well." The red haired blood elf said peering through a pair of binoculars. Her name was Sendreial, an experienced paladin and former member of Silvermoon's Blood Knights. Her days with the Blood Knights were now behind her, Green armor with darker green gauntlets, boots and paldrons had replaced the signature red armor of the Sin'dorei's Paladin force. Her association with the Horde had distanced in recent years, as she found a calling more pressing to her than the seemingly never ending conflict between the Horde and Alliance factions, which is exactly what had brought her to this location today.

"Yep, took me quite a bit of recon' before even I found out where they were hidin' 'em." Piped in a female goblin standing next to the Blood elf. The Sendreial turned around to face the rest of the group that had accompanied her on this mission. "It's just as Neeza says." She spoke as she looked about at the diverse collection of individuals that made up her team, "It may appear as a simple mining operation, but make no mistake, these Dwarves are slavers… there are children in there, orphans of all kinds, from races both Horde and Alliance… Our priority is their safety, I do not care how many dwarves fall today, but we cannot allow those children to come under further harm." The blood elf looked around at the her comrades, the determination gleaming in her jade colored eyes, "Is there anyone here who needs to be reminded of our attack strategy?" a telling silence fell over the group, Sendreial smiled with satisfaction, "Very good, my friends… let us make our move then… for the honor of the Sappharite Wolf!"

Ordrimm Frostiron stood at the main gate to the Rustbeard mining camp, three hours into his turn to stand watch. He was a distant cousin of the Rustbeards, in fact pretty much all the dwarves working at the mine were related in some form or another. Thordrinn Believed that it was better to keep the family secret within the family rather than take a chance on trusting outsiders. Ordrimm, like most dwarves, enjoyed his ale, though he probably drank much more than he should. He would often sneak a flask with him when he was on guard duty… tonight however he forgot, and his head was beginning to pound from the hangover from drinking all afternoon. He silently cursed himself as his head throbbed with pain. He sat back trying to concentrate on his job in hopes that it might take his focus off of his hangover.

"Ye don't look so good, brother." Came a voice from behind him, Ordrimm turned to see his brother, Ulric, stepping outside the gates, "Ye seem ta have forgotten somethin' important to ye, brother…" Ulric continued. He reached into his pocket pulling out the flask, "I took the liberty o' sneakin' ye yuir booze while there wasnae anybody lookin'."

Ordrimm smiled, "Thank ye, brother. I wannae sure I could make it another hour without me ale."

"Donnae mention it." Ulric smiled, "Light knows I cannae go long without a drink meself!" Ulric said as he pulled out his own flask and sat down beside his brother. The two dwarves laughed and simultaneously took a drink from their flasks. "Ah well," Ulric continued, "It's nae like it's gonnae hinder yuir job too much, We hadnae had any unexpected visitors in months, an' even when we have the guards innae the watchtowers usually spot 'em first anyhow."

"Aye." Ordrimm nodded as he took another drink. Suddenly, the moonlight coming from overhead disappeared from their view. The two dwarves looked up at the sky to see what it was that cast the shadow over them… above was a large hawk… seemingly growing larger…. no, it was descending… actually it seemed to be changing shape now… into a large bull-horned bear. The tauren druid landed on top of the two dwarf sentries, crushing them into the earth below and let out a loud roar.

"We're under attack, lads!" One dwarf foreman yelled, "Get yuirselves intah positions! Fend these Horde bastards off!"

The unusually large tauren, in a bear form several times larger than an average grizzly, continued to swipe and slash at the growing number of dwarves around him, behind him appeared a goblin in A black outfit with a black leather hood covering her face wielding two large black talon weapons, and a Troll Shaman alternating between various fire and lightning based attacks, and healing spells to bolster his allies defenses.

One of the dwarf lookouts in the towers surrounding the mining camp, aimed a large rifle at the druids head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a slight flash and before he knew it he plummeted from the tower dead long before his body hit the ground.

Up on the adjacent hillside a worgen hunter cocker her rifle, "I don't think so you bloody bastard." She said to herself as she began to take aim again. "You'll 'ave to do a lot better than that on my watch." The black wolf beside her howled as she turned her rifle to the next tower and continued to take out the lookouts, one by one.

Three dwarves managed to corner the goblin rogue. The lead dwarf reared his axe and brought it down on the ebon-clad goblin… the axe sliced through an illusion that dissipated into a cloud of smoke… as the dwarves stood there, coughing and confused they heard a distinct metal click behind them… they turned to see the goblin holding an ornate shoulder canon. Neeza narrowed her eyes as she pulled the trigger on the "Dragon Gun", engulfing the dwarves in a billow of flames. She turned and tossed a medium sized metal sphere into the center of the camp. As it rolled to a halt crudely painted red letters, spelling "B.A.M." were clearly visible on the weapons side. Three spikes shot from the edges of the weapon anchoring it into the ground, and a faintly blue colored gas billowed out of the top of the sphere spilling into the surrounding area, quickly engulfing the rest of the mining camp.

"Look out lads, "Barwinn Rustbeard shouted in warning, "Poison gas!" the dwarves covered their mouth and began to scramble for cover before many began to notice there was no effect. Barwinn looked around, puzzled. It wasn't poison gas, or knock-out gas, or even some kind of tear gas, if anything he only felt slightly light headed, and even then not nearly enough to impair him. "Be alert lads, it's some kindae…. Some kindae…"

He heard a click behind him and turned to face the goblin Rogue, "It's a condensed oxygen vapor…" Though the black mask covered her face, Barwinn could tell the rogue was grinning as she rested the Dragon-gun on her shoulder, "Mixed with a catalyst agent of my own design to drastically increase a blast radius!" She pulled the trigger and an enormous fireball engulfed the mining camp, incinerating the majority of the dwarves and scattering flaming debris all around. As Neeza rolled to a halt several yards away she pulled the mask from her face "A Neezco brand 'Blast Acceleration Mechanism', soon to be available wherever fine goblin munitions are sold… so, yeah, tell your friends." She looked around at the smoldering wreckage before the Troll Shaman verbalized her own realization. "Dere really be nobody left ta hear de sales pitch, mon." Neeza sprung to her feet as the troll continued, "We got tings undah control down here. You be needin' ta join de others, now."

"I know, I know. Don't worry I'm on my way…" The Goblin called out as she hurried towards the mountainside.

Up above a second battle was ensuing between the Dwarves inside the mine and the second attack group of the Sappharite Wolf members, two paladins, one of which was Sendreial, the other clad in full blue plate attire, the helmet covering her face, artfully wielding a polearm with a crescent shaped blade on one end and an edged metal hook on the other. With them was a white haired young Blood elf carrying a scythe shaped staff. She was casting various fire spells and was clad in an attire of black cloth that bordered on the scanty side.

"There are less of them here than I expected!" Said the second Paladin, as she swung her weapon in a downward arc, then spinning the polearm and thrusting it into the torso of an attacking dwarf.

"Don't let your guard down, the real mine is concealed in the back!" Sendreial responded, swinging a long crimson sword at three of the dwarves that were attempting to flank the second Paladin, "They're likely to have a larger assemblage of dwarves guarding the slaves!" she blasted two of the dwarves away with a judgement spell. "We need to gain entry as soon as possible and separate them from the kids. As soon as Neeza arrives she can take care of the rest.

"And she has." Came voice from behind the dwarves. A large metal net sprang out from the darkness landing on the few remaining dwarves, before the dwarves could react a bright blue flash filled the cave as the netting was charged with a strong electrical current. The goblin rogue stepped out from her hiding place holding a crude looking control mechanism attached to the netting. She smirked as she approached her comrades.

"Showoff." The blood elf in black grinned.

Neeza was about to retort when Sendreial interrupted her, "We can't waste time," she said as she hurried towards the back of the cave " Neeza, drop that devise and hurry over here. As soon as we're inside I need you to proceed to the back of the mine with haste and assemble one of your portable transporters. We'll fend off whatever defenses they have while you escort the children to safety."

The Troll shaman poked at the burning debris with the tip of his mace. The mace was fashioned with a skeletal design as homage to his people's history of voodoo rituals, a practice that had melded into other Troll practices including shamanism. "I don' tink I be seein' any survivors here, mon." he turned to the tauren druid. The druid had shape shifted out of his bear form now that the fighting seemed to be over, but his size was still quite large, even for a tauren. He carried a large elaborate staff made of stone, the size was just as colossal as the druid himself, as thought it were a support beam ripped out from a decent sized building. The druid nodded at his Shaman partner, but said nothing. "I be tinkin' dat if there were any of dem left, den Neeza probably cooked de lot of dem wit de explosion of hers." The Troll continued.

The Tauren looked around the blazing camp, walked up beside the Troll and spoke, "All the same, my friend, we should keep looking," the colossal Tauren then motioned towards the towering blaze in front of them, "after we take care of this fire. It could draw unnecessary attention."

The Troll Nodded, "I be takin' care of it den…" he began to move towards the blaze, sorting through a pouch on his belt for is carved representation of the elements, items all shamans used to commune with the elemental forces of nature. Their essences manifested themselves as several glowing totems appeared around the shaman.

"'Ave either of you blokes considered that they might be in need of some 'elp up there?" Said the worgen hunter as she came down from the hillside, her large black wolf following close behind her.

The Troll didn't even bother to turn around, "You be welcome to head up dere an' see for yourself, but he be too big to fit in de opening," the shaman pointed at the druid with his thumb, "And I be claustrophobic." He looked up at the mine far above them, "Besides, I be pretty sure dey be givin' us some signal if dey really be needin' de back-up".

"Trolls?" The blue clad paladin exclaimed as the group entered through the hidden entrance to the mine. Indeed there were several forest trolls lining the walls, guarding the enslaved orphans mining the mithril deep in the mine. They had all turned to face the three figures that entered, they brandished their weapons preparing for a fight. "Since when have dwarves EVER allied with trolls?"

Sendreial frowned as the closest trio of troll guards charged at the group, She forcefully brought her blade down cutting through the three trolls before the could react, "This wasn't in your report." She said as Neeza entered the room.

"That's cause they weren't here… they musta just been brought in…" she joined the Pair of blood elves and the blue clad paladin as they charged into the mine cutting a path through the attacking trolls as their numbers seemed to increase. "They were probably recruited by the same group that supplied the dwarves with the orphan's from Kalimdor".

"This is more than I was expecting!" the white-haired Blood elf in black called out as the Trolls began to swarm on their group.

"Too much for you to handle?" Sendreial called as she cut through another two trolls and blasted a third with a judgment spell.

The other elf smirked, "Please!" she said calmly as she blasted another troll with a fire spell, "For someone with my considerable skills these brutes are merely nothing more than…" she was cut off as a large troll knocked her to the ground.

"Velletrise!" the paladin in blue called out, trying to rush to her ally's aid.

The troll stood over the blood elf, raising his axe in preparation to strike the finishing blow. "To fel with it!" Velletrise muttered to herself and she began to chant in a dark arcane language, blasting the troll back with a powerful shadow spell, continuing to chant, she concentrated a powerful spell on the troll as she began to stand. A purple energy seeped out of the fallen troll as the fear etched over his face. The troll grew noticeably weaker as the purple energy surrounded Velletrise. Finally the troll collapsed as his life had drained from him. The black clad blood elf turned to the other trolls, the purple energy radiating from her, her face filled with fury. She thrust her hands towards the Trolls, scattering them with an explosion of shadow energy.

"Nice!" Neeza shouted as she leapt over the blood Elf warlock with a rocket propelled jump landing on troll just starting to recover from Velletrise's attack. She slashed at the troll with poison coated iron claws and threw several throwing knives in a semi-circle around her, each poison coated blade striking down another troll. "Ya oughta use that warlock magic more often, it beats the fel outta yer fire spells." Velletrise shot the goblin a furious look and Neeza backed off, "Yeah… never mind… lemme go see what I can do ta help get the kids outta here." The goblin rogue seemed to disappear into the shadows as she headed further down the mine.

Sendreial rested her hand on the black clothed blood elf and said, "Don't hold it against her, Vel… she has no inclination of what you've endured." The blood elf paladin turned as she saw more trolls approaching from further down the tunnel.

"We shall discuss it at a later time." Velletrise responded as she readied another fire spell, "It seems the battle is far from over."

Near the back of the mine the goblin rogue had set a device on the ground, and pulled a pair of discs out of her bag, setting them on top of each side of the device. She turned to the orphans, whom she had led down with her to this corner of the mine, "Close yer eyes, kids, it's gonna get really bright for a few seconds. She pulled a small silver cylinder out of her bag and cautiously attached it in a slot at the foot of the machine between the discs… nothing seemed to happen… Neeza pulled out a wrench and lightly tapped the cylinder a few times… still nothing. The goblin frowned and whacked the cylinder forcefully with her wrench. A burst of electricity sent the goblin flying across the room. As Neeza got back to her feet several lights sprung to life on the machine's console. She quickly ran up adjusting a few dials before flipping a switch. A swirling blue portal appeared between the discs, and Neeza smiled, satisfied with her work.

The commotion from the fighting began to come closer, Neeza looked further up the Tunnel to see her comrades being forced towards her location by a number of trolls. She sighed and turned to the orphans "C'mon kids," she said as she approached one of them, "the portal is perfectly safe. Let's get those shackles of allah ya and getcha to a nice, safe… OW!" The goblin reeled back in pain, the enchantment on the shackles delivered quite a painful charge. Neeza Slipped on a pair of goggles and leaned in, inspecting the ebon colored shackles. "Hey Sen?!" she shouted, not turning away from the orphans.

"I'm a bit engaged at the moment!" the green clad paladin called back.

Neeza stood up and looked in the direction of the ongoing combat between her friends and the Troll guards swarming on them. "We gotta slight problem." She continued, the unease in her voice made the blood elf paladin look back at her comrade, "These cuffs, they're kinda enchanted..." Sendreial turned a little more towards the closest orphan wearing the shackles, and her concern grew at the sight of the panicked look on the child's face. Neeza adjusted her goggles and then called out, "It looks like a darker kinda magic, maybe warlock in origin."

"Dammit!" the White haired blood elf frowned.

"Velletrise?" Sendreial turned to her blood elf comrade.

"Yeah, yeah, do not worry yourself," The White haired Elf replied "I shall tend to the situation." She cast a shadow spell and dashed towards the back of the cave next to the rogue. She knelt down to inspect the shackles, muttering to herself as she did.

"Look, I know your warlock past ain't a pleasant subject for ya.. certainly somethin' ya don't like to dwell on," the goblin rouge spoke up, "But the attitude really ain't helpin' these kids any."

Velletrise looked up at the fear on the children's faces. Her countenance softened and she looked around at them reassuringly, "Everything will be fine, little ones. Don't worry." She lifted the hands of the closest Orphan and let her hand hover a few inches from the shackles; a purple energy flowed from her hand and flowed over the manacles. Sparks flew from edges of the cuffs before they fell from the child's wrist. The blood elf warlock continued casting on the restraints of the next orphan as she spoke to her goblin comrade, "It's not a complicated enchantment, but it is a painful one," the next pair of shackles fell to the floor and Velletrise continued with her work, "Once you escort them through the portal, inspect them to see if any are in need of medical attention." She advised casually. Neeza nodded and began to direct the children towards the swirling blue energy emitting from the portal generator.

Sendreial and the blue clad paladin continued fighting the trolls in the mine. There numbers were less overwhelming now, at first it seemed impossible that there could be as many in the mine as they had seemed to encounter, as though they were literally coming out of the walls. Now the two paladins were able to hold there own against the remaining attackers. Sendreial thrust her sword through one of the few remaining troll as the blue paladin dispatched another two with her polearm. The two looked around, it seemed that they had finally finished off the last of them. Sendreial turned to the other paladin, "keep vigilant for further signs of trouble, I must find if I may offer any assistance to Velletrise and Neeza".

The blue armored paladin nodded as she watched her comrade dash off further down the mine. As she turned around again a large troll with a spiked club leapt in front of her, bringing the club down with a forceful blow.

Sendreial turned as the paladin's blue helmet with gold trim tumbled across the ground in front of her. She looked in horror as the large troll stood above her friend, ready to bring the club down on her unprotected head. "JENEKKI!" Sendreial shouted as she tried to rush to the aid of her friend. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the troll stopped. He dropped his club and tried to turn to look behind him, falling dead in a heap from the effort. Behind the troll the worgen hunter lowered her rifle, "Bloody glad I came to see if you 'ad everything under control".

Jenekki, the blue clad human paladin, shook herself free from underneath the dead troll, "I'm sure as fel glad you did too!"

Sendreial approached the two of them, a smile of relief on her face.

In the minutes that followed, Velletrise managed to remove the last of the cursed manacles from the orphans' wrists. Neeza was helping them get to safety through the portal. The druid and shaman had climbed up to the entrance of the cave and were acting as lookouts while the rest of the team was finishing up with the rescue mission. Despite occasional setbacks, the Order of the Sapphirite wolf operated like a machine, their rescue missions had always gone smoothly, in the beginning things had been a little difficult but over time the group had developed into a very cohesive unit. The fact that they were taken by surprise this time troubled Sendreial, the group's unofficial leader. The lack of information had taken them back a few steps, and the time it took to adapt to the situation made them look pretty inexperienced. The fact that Jenekki, their chief alliance aligned operative, had nearly taken what could have taken a fatal blow was proof enough of that. "Some retraining might be in order." She thought to herself, "This was too close a call for a mission that should have been, more or less routine. At least none of the children were injured in the process…" the blood elf's brow furrowed, that wasn't entirely true. Sendreial held up one of the shackles as Neeza prepared to follow the rest of the Orphans through the portal. Thoughts ran through her mind as she imagined what sort of pain the orphans must have endured, even before the shackles had been used what they had suffered was terrible enough. "These concern me," she said to the goblin rogue with a frown, "Warlock crafted shackles, designed to inflict added pain on these poor kids… it's utterly inhuman". She looked inquisitively at the goblin; "They weren't in use at the time of your last reconnaissance mission were they?"

"No, hadn't seen anything like 'em before today." Neeza replied

"There also were never any warlocks present within the Rustbeard's encampment, where there?"

"No magic user's at all, actually." The goblin looked back at her, "Not during the recon, and none that we encountered tonight."

"Which implies that they must have been developed by an outside source." Sendreial continued, tapping her index finger to her chin as she looked about the room.

Neeza grabbed a few of the shackles and stuffed them in a bag on her belt, "I'm gonna bring these to a contact of mine in Stranglethorn, she may be able to give me some info on 'em."

"Please do," Sendreial nodded, " and contact me immediately if you should uncover anything."

"We could also question the dwarf leading the operation." Jenekki spoke up as she picked up her dented helmet.

"Yes, Thordrinn should still be around here somewhere." Sendreial spoke, gripping her sword.

"I'm afraid the bloke ain't up 'ere." The worgen hunter said matter-of-factly, "I made sure to check for 'im on me way up 'ere."

The goblin rogue looked around, "yeah, I didn't see him, either." She spoke up, "and I didn't see him around when I blew the heck outta their camp down there."

Sendreial held a gloved hand to her forehead and sighed, "Get down there and search for him, but don't linger, we cannot afford to be here if alliance forces choose to investigate the area. Round up any other dwarf survivors you may come across as well, but if you cannot find the ringleader within ten minutes return with haste… our work for the night is far from over."

A few kilometers away, Thodrinn Rustbeard was hurrying down the coast, hoping to find some way to escape back to Ironforge or perhaps one of the Wildhammer Dwarf encampments for sanctuary… he would return to the mine in time with his own reinforcements, he couldn't risk bringing in outside help and let them uncover any evidence of the slave operation. He began climbing over a ridge and saw a light down the shore. "Finally." He said to himself, still proceeding with caution in case the light originated from a Horde encampment… Suddenly a glowing blue sword plunged into the ground in front of him, sending the dwarf sprawling backward. He looked up to see a female figure clad in black armor dismounting from a frightening looking black horse, her glowing blue eyes peering out from a thick ebon helmet. Thodrinn gulped as he stared up at the Death Knight, frantically trying to devise an escape strategy. The death knight waved her hand in the air, the bony fingers surrounded by a glowing green energy, and several skeletal arms sprang from the ground holding the dwarf in place.

As she removed her helmet the Death Knight scowled down at the balding Dwarf. She appeared to be one of the undead, a forsaken, one of the more unpredictable factions of the horde. Thodrinn gulped as the undead stooped and clasped her cold, bony hand about his throat, "I am well aware of who… and what you are, dwarf." she spoke with a resonating voice, "I know what your occupation is and what you've been up to," her glowing blue eyes narrowed as she sneered, "and it makes my rotting blood boil."

"Please, spare me!" Thodrinn begged pathetically, "Ah'll do anything ye ask…"

"A plea for mercy to a death knight?" the undead's brow furrowed as she stood, "What nonsense." She gripped her sword and removed it from the ground. Sliding the weapon into the sheath on her back. "But perhaps you could yet be of use to me…" Her smile was unsettling, "You shall deliver a message for me… to all the other slavers you associate with, or any slavers you might simply be aware of…"

"Gladly!" the dwarf responded frantically just thankful that she was letting him live, "Anything ye ask! What massage would ye have me deliver?" The undead replaced the dark helmet over her head, then turned and began to walk away, motioning with her hand as the skeletal arms returned to the earth from which they had emerged. Thordrinn looked on at the forsaken woman, confused. Then he heard something approaching him from behind. He turned to see a ghoulish creature standing over him, a half rotted beast with glowing red eyes. Thodrinn's screams were quickly cut short as the ghoul was upon him tearing the dwarf asunder.

"Your corpse will suffice as the message." The Death Knight responded, in an emotionless tone. "Grimsley!" she called out turning slightly towards the ghoul. The ghoul looked up to his master with gore dripping from his rotting jaws. "Leave his face intact, I want any associates of his to be able to recognize the remains." The ghoul uttered an incomprehensible guttural response and returned his attention towards the dwarven slaver's corpse as the death knight mounted her dreadsteed and galloped off into the darkness.

End of Chapter 1


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